The _Tobermory was no ship for passengers. Its decks were littered
with a hundred oddments, so that a man could barely walk a step
without tacking, and my bunk was simply a shelf in the frowsty
little saloon, where the odour of ham and eggs hung like a fog. I
joined her at Greenock and took a turn on deck with the captain
after tea, when he told me the names of the big blue hills to the
north. He had a fine old copper-coloured face and side-whiskers
like an archbishop, and, having spent all his days beating up the
western seas, had as many yarns in his head as Peter himself.

'On this boat,' he announced, 'we don't ken what a day may
bring forth. I may put into Colonsay for twa hours and bide there
three days. I get a telegram at Oban and the next thing I'm awa
ayont Barra. Sheep's the difficult business. They maun be fetched
for the sales, and they're dooms slow to lift. So ye see it's not what
ye call a pleasure trip, Maister Brand.'

Indeed it wasn't, for the confounded tub wallowed like a fat sow
as soon as we rounded a headland and got the weight of the south-
western wind. When asked my purpose, I explained that I was a
colonial of Scots extraction, who was paying his first visit to his
fatherland and wanted to explore the beauties of the West
Highlands. I let him gather that I was not rich in this world's goods.

' Ye'll have a passport?' he asked. 'They'll no let ye go north o'
Fort William without one.'

Amos had said nothing about passports, so I looked blank.